Product Blog

A lot of people ask me why Young Living is so special, and this is what I share with them:

Let’s say that the scent oil industry is represented by a triangle. In the bottom rung are the synthetic oils. These oils represent all of the artificial aromas that go into shampoos, cleaning products, perfumes, etc. These oils are of the lowest quality and some are even not safe. The middle area represents all the oils that are produced with “natural” in mind, but come from companies that are more interested in high product yield and fragrance. The top portion is reserved for therapeutic essential oils. For each level of oils, I’ve seen therapeutic-grade claims—but this is a term that companies often use without verification.

Young Living essential oils lie atop this quality triangle. Young Living’s products are special because we produce essential oils from beginning to end, or from Seed to Seal™. This is how we maintain the integrity of nature’s living energy. The process of Seed to Seal is:

• Seed: Verifying the most beneficial seed species.
• Cultivate: Farming the land ourselves to truly understand the art of agriculture.
• Distill: Extracting oils with our own distillers.
• Test: Verifying the quality of each essential oil with state-of-the-art equipment and top-notch experts.
• Seal: Bottling the final product and carefully shipping worldwide.

Understanding the most beneficial variety of every plant species we bottle, their optimal harvesting conditions, plus how to expertly distill, verify, seal, and ship them worldwide, allows Young Living to ensure each essential oil will deliver the therapeutic results expected and is what makes us the world leader in essential oils.

—Toby Palmer

Product Manager, Essential Oils

If you ever get a chance to come and visit the Young Living warehouse in Spanish Fork, Utah, be sure to take the time and tour the laboratory up on the second floor. I recently spent some time with the staff learning about the different tests conducted on every batch of incoming essential oils, whether from Young Living farms or from partner distilleries.

One of the tests is called Gas Chromatography (sometimes referred to as a GC test). I’ve written about this test in a previous post. Another vital test is the Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (the acronym for this is GC MS). These two tests work together to ensure the optimal levels of plant compounds are present in every bottle of essential oil.

Both the GC and GC MS are about double the size of a typical microwave. Next to the machines are large gas tanks filled with a mixture of helium, hydrogen, and nitrogen. These gases help split up the essential oil into individual plant compounds. To use the machine, the laboratory places an oil sample inside and the oil shoots through a long section of copper tubing. Because different compounds have different weights, each stops at a different point within the tubing—the lighter compounds stop at the beginning and the heavier compounds stop near the end. Once they stop, a computer can then measure various aspects of the plant compound.

The two tests are useful in different ways. The GC MS identifies and measures individual plant compounds over time. This is important for when Young Living receives a new essential oil and wants to study the key constituents. Once enough data is collected, Young Living creates an internal specification, which documents the highs and lows of the plant compounds. Once documented, Gary Young and his team of researchers determine what levels of that oil to either accept or reject.

Once an essential oil becomes part of the Young Living family of oils, the laboratory performs the GC test on every batch that enters the warehouse. The GC tests the levels of plant compounds against the Young Living standard. If the GC shows the batch doesn’t have the optimal levels of plant compounds, the oil is rejected.

Young Living is the world leader in essential oils because of its unmatched commitment to providing the highest quality products that really work. The GC and GC MS are only two of the tests used, but play an important role in guaranteeing the highest therapeutic quality. “Test” is a vital part of Young Living’s Seed to Seal™ process and one of the many ways we ensure you’re getting the most authentic essential oils possible.

—Toby Palmer,

Product Manager, Essential Oils

I wanted to share an interesting article that was passed on to me from a Young Living member.

According to the article, researchers in Greece are discovering the anti-microbial powers of essential oils—especially thyme and cinnamon. Those of us with Young Living don’t have to wait for empirical evidence to tell us that blends like Thieves® (cinnamon) and Ortho Sport® (thyme) have the optimal levels of Young Living Therapeutic Grade™ oils that work, but it is fun to see the rest of the world discover what we already know.

Click here to view the entire article.*

—Toby Palmer

Product Manager, Essential Oils

*By making this link available to users, Young Living is not endorsing the content of the link. Young Living provides this link for informational purposes only. Always follow the usage directions given on Young Living product labels.

Young Living members already know that Young Living Therapeutic Grade™ (YLTG) essential oils are the highest quality and most therapeutic. But achieving this high standard requires years of experience from experts like Gary Young, and results in part by farming and distilling many of our own essential oils. Even our four farms aren’t big enough to produce all the oils demanded by our customers, not to mention that some products only grow in unique, remote climate regions (i.e. frankincense only grows within specific areas of the Middle East). So to maintain YLTG standards—no matter where an essential oil is grown or distilled—our experts apply the lessons learned on Young Living farms to make personal, on-site visits across the globe, ensuring that partner growers and distillers meet our world-class standard.

Once the oils are sent to our research center in Spanish Fork, Utah, we determine which oils qualify for the YLTG requirements through a multi-step process that consistently delivers superior products. Part of this process involves scientific purity tests. The research center experts run every batch of essential oils through seven technical tests that determine if an oil qualifies to be a YLTG product.

The first test is called Gas Chromatography (often referred to as GC). The GC test measures the individual chemical components of an essential oil by sending samples through a metal tube. As the oil spirals around the tube, it begins to “flash off” or evaporate. The evaporation points of each chemical are measured and compared to the YLTG specification standard for that oil. If components of that oil don’t measure up, the entire batch is rejected. That’s good news for Young Living essential oil consumers, but bad news for unsuspecting buyers elsewhere. That’s because partner distillers who don’t meet the YLTG qualifications take their rejected oil and sell it to other essential oil companies with lower standards.

In future blog posts I’ll review the other six tests Young Living uses to qualify its YLTG essential oils. Knowing and understanding these purity tests will give you added confidence that Young Living truly is the world leader in essential oils.

—Toby Palmer

Product Manager, Essential Oils

If you’re like me, there was more good food this holiday season than you could eat. And even though I tried to balance my diet each day, sometimes my eyes were bigger than my stomach (especially when it came to my grandma’s pumpkin pie). For me, feeling full has always been a source of satisfaction—a feeling of completeness.

Though I don’t have any New Year resolutions to change my diet, I am always interested in ways to feel full without increasing calories. I recently came across a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry describing how certain aromas can give a feeling of satiation, or fullness.

Synopses of the article can be found in The Washington Times and Popular Science.

The idea of this study was that certain aromas can trigger processes in the body that create the feeling of fullness. It surprised me that there was more to being “full” than just how much food you consume. The research said that the nasal process has much to do with the sensations experienced while chewing. The research also suggested that more complex aromas can add to feelings of fullness.

The research didn’t test essential oils specifically, but it got me thinking about certain oils in the Young Living collection that could add complex aromas before eating. Some suggestions may be to try a drop of peppermint or grapefruit in water during a meal. What about adding more complex aromas such as oregano or basil to a pasta dish? Here are some other Young Living Therapeutic Grade™ essential oil singles oils to try:

• Clove
• Thyme
• Black Pepper
• Cypress
• Nutmeg
• Orange
• Valerian
• Eucalyptus
• Cinnamon Bark
• Fennel

I would love to hear if you have had success balancing your diet with aromatic essential oils!

—Toby Palmer

Product Manager, Essential Oils